Archive for November, 2010

So eventually CrossFit’s notorious workout named Fran came around at Kia Kaha. One of the benchmark WOD’s, this short and very taxing workout showed her face at our gym. I have to be honest I was very excited as I have never attempted it prescribed. Last time Fran came around I had had issues with my lower back so lightened up the weight and the time before that I was unable to do the pull ups without a band.

So Fran showed her face this week and it was my rest day, as tempted as I was to join in the 5pm class I held back and swore to myself that the next morning I would have Fran for breakfast. Coach J, Coach H and myself on friday morning polished our knuckles and got all wrapped up in Fran! boom! Was aiming for under 10mins, secretly hoping for 8mins. 🙂

I have been feeling strong lately and I know my pull ups were sweet, so was heading into it thinking I wanted at least 11 thrusters before I put the bar down…… and atleast 11 pullups unbroken……the rest my friend is history. Finished in 6mins 45s!!! So very happy about my time. Felt fast and strong and tip top for around 10mins after. Then it hit, I felt sick, dizzy and extremely tired, what’s up with this horrible exhaustion that hits me 10mins after I train!! Took about 2hours for me to feel normal again. Fran I am happy to say you kicked my butt.

Wowser, Saturday was just an amazing day. Seeing so many fit men and women in one space. The vibe was great and the workouts were awesome. Crossfit Birkenhead put on a great day for us all. Check out the workouts :

Event 1:

8 Shoulder to overhead (40/25)

8 Kettlebell swing (24/16)

8 Burpee

8 minute AMRAP

Event 2:

Maximum consecutive double unders.

Immediately following Event 1, you have 3 minutes to attempt maximum consecutive double unders. You may attempt as many times as you like within the 3 minutes.

Event 3:

Run 3k

Location: Onepoto Domain

Event 4:

Clean and Jerk up to 15 reps

You will preform consecutive reps up to a maximum of 15. Choose your weight, each successful lift will go towards your total weight lifted. The bar must not rest on the floor (must touch and go each rep) Hands must stay in contact with bar throughout. Eg; you use 70kg and drop a clean after completing 10 reps, score =700kg.

Event 5 (final)

Pull up 10 to 1

Front Squat (60/40) 1 to 10

This was my third CrossFit comp and the level of competition was outstanding! For me this was the best I have ever competed, I felt super fit and even surprised myself with my strength. After WOD 1 and 2 I was sitting in 2nd. Pretty happy with that. Then came the 3km run. We all trundled to the park for two laps around the lake..

The sun was shining and everyone feeling in a good mood, my first nerves were gone. Sitting on the heels of Pip and Lou from CFNZ the whole first lap and half of the second eventually overtaking Lou and pulling away infront. I made sure I was just behind Pip who had now caught up to Debs infront of her. There was about a quarter of the way to go and it was a real battle in my head to keep up. Lungs burning and legs wanting to slow we pushed on. The last straight coming up it was hard to know when to pull out the after burners and sprint! The 3 of us had a mad battle right to the end line….. I really thought I had got them just at the end, but unfortunately I was put in last…..

Lunch time! Feeling like we had been hit by a bus, the Kia Kaha crew was sitting well in the comp. Jamie in 1st, me in 4th, Nick, Hala and Big Dave not far behind.

Napping wasn’t an option, soon after re-fuelling it was time to step up again.

Me and Hala totally botched the 4th workout going WAY to light on our clean and Jerks. I went for 30kg! WTF! I dunno I hadn’t done the maths. 35kg should have been me. I finished too fast and too easy. This was my down fall into not placing in the top 3.

Top 8 women into the final I knew I had to pull out all the stops. The workout was good,( read ‘evil’), but the weight was heavy! 40kg front squats, 55reps of them!!! The pull-ups were easy, the squats, not so much. Especially when its 78% of your body weight! I think I finished 4th out of the 8. It wasn’t enough to place me in the top 3. One point away from 3rd place, me and Debs shared the 4th place spot just behind Pip! If only I hadn’t messed up my Clean and Jerk.

All in all the day was amazing and everyone did so well. Big shout out to our KKCF team. Jamie placed 3rd overall, Hala, Nick and Big Dave representing. We had an awesome support crew too. Big ups to Dave too, his first comp, he has only been training for a few weeks at CrossFit and completed it RxD! WOW! Watch out for this one!

Check out the photo below, my last rep of the last workout, I’ve never been so close to crying in a WOD. The emotions of Nick too just show how much we all support each other. Without this support I don’t think we would get half as far as we do.

Summers almost here and I’m still fighting for those abs 🙂 Its been a great month at Kia Kaha CrossFit. So many new faces and so many crazy throw downs….. Loving the energy and the team vibe. The coaches rock, and the members are insane, well in a good way that is! Everyone is reaping the benefits already, with many kilos lost and healthy eating patterns all round. The energy of everyone has rubbed off on me too, and I feel my training is just getting better all the time.

I have always pushed myself in workouts, I think the boxing helped in that, but lately I think maybe I am pushing some new boundaries, at least I hope I am. There’s been a lot more of completing a workout and feeling sweet for about 1 min and then it kicks in…..that horrible feeling: “oh crap, I’m not feeling so great, hummm, I need to lay down, yup, light headed, oh man, am I gonna vomit?…..” then it passes and I stand up only to find: ” erg, hold on, I think I need to lay down some more…..”

Yeah, you know that feeling, I’m sure we have all been there many a time. It just seems to me, I’m there WAY more often than I used to be. I hope this means I’m working harder and just generally pushing my own limits .

Pretty much says it all

It kinda brings me to the point too, of what to eat straight after a WOD. Believe me, there is nothing worse than having that feeling you need some sugar and not getting it. But, you are eating paleo, that means you cant get that quick sugar fix, or can you? Do you need some carbs? protein? what? You don’t want to ruin all that hard work and eat the wrong thing. So what do you do? Well, I think I have found what works for me.

The truth is after a workout is the best time for protein synthesis. Eat some thing with a high Protein content within 30-60mins of a workout. It is also beneficial to add in some simple sugars, although I don’t mean grab a chocolate bar, eat some fruit instead. The point here is keep it to paleo/primal, don’t start eating crap for that quick fix.

I find a quick protein shake is about all I can handle after a workout, although sometimes if it is super intense and I get the mean shakes (most the time, haha) i’ll down a handful of grapes and a dried fig. Usually the protein shake does its job sweet and is super easy to digest especially when you to sick to eat! Check out some reading on mark’s daily apple ….

As I found lately, be prepared! Don’t come to the gym do a massive workout and then feel like you gonna faint and grab sweets because you aren’t prepared. Think about it people!! Let me know your thoughts, and what food you think works for you…